London Mayor Ken Livingstone Tuesday initialed an agreement with Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro to swap Venezuelan oil -to fuel the fleet of London buses- for technical advice, AFP reported.

The agreement with state-run oil giant Pdvsa is cutting by 20 percent the oil bill of the London Mayoralty, thus resulting in "benefits for some 250,000 Londoners," Livingstone said in London following initialization of the agreement.
 
This "generous" idea was born from "a suggestion President Hugo Chávez made during his visit to London last year, as he seeks to use crude oil to face poverty," said the controversial London Mayor, whose nickname is "Ken the Red."

According to Livingstone, under the agreement London Mayoralty is saving USD 32 billion a year, and such savings will allow authorities to cut by half omnibus fares to some 250,000 Londoners.

In exchange, London is providing technical assistance to Venezuelan towns in the areas of transportation, environment protection, recycling, waste disposal, tourism and urban planning, Livingstone explained.

He added that London Mayoralty is opening an office in Caracas "to begin working as of next month to transfer knowledge to people in Venezuela."

"We are rich and very strong in energy matters, while London is rich and very strong in cooperation, waste disposal, recycling, urban planning," said Alejandro Granado, one of Pdvsa officials in Europe.

Maduro stressed that the pact is "strengthening the relations between the peoples of London and Venezuela."

The controversial London Mayor has many detractors. He was under fire last November, when he visited Cuba and Venezuela. Back at that time, Livingstone was scheduled to meet with Chávez in Caracas, but the Venezuelan ruler was leading his re-election campaign and adjourned the meeting in a last minute move.